


never too late (to be brand new)

by phloridas



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: (because like...what more do you expect from me at this point lol), Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, interactive introverts, like blink and you miss it angst, minor ii spoilers, title creds to innocent by taylor swift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 18:59:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14879397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phloridas/pseuds/phloridas
Summary: It's the final show of the tour, but that doesn't mean everything has to end. Maybe, just maybe, Dan and Phil both have a few tricks up their sleeves.





	never too late (to be brand new)

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to Sana and Katie (@inlovewiththeirlove and @knlalla) for whipping this fic into shape! Ily guys!! <3
> 
> This is a companion fic to Alexis' (@lilacskylester) fic, which you can find [here](http://lilacskylester.tumblr.com/post/174696061377/the-end-is-also-the-beginning)!
> 
>  
> 
> *****This fic contains minor II spoilers*****

Five months.  
  
Five whole months they've been on tour together.  
  
Five months of seeing the world with Dan.

If Phil was a sappier man, he'd say he didn't need to see the world--he had it all right next to him. Even if Dan would point his finger down his throat and aim a gentle shove at Phil, his eyes rolling up to the stratosphere. But he'd be smiling too.

Tonight, though, it's all coming to an end.  
  
There's a part of Phil that's bone-shakingly terrified. Somehow, even the crazy routine of touring had grown to be a comfort these past five months. How is he supposed to go back to filming and occasional meetings and rough days at home when they've experienced the highest highs the world has to offer? What if the sudden end of everything turns Dan into a zombie again, finding his life void of meaning and becoming nothing more than a ghost to Phil? Of course, things have gotten better now, but Phil can't help his chest seizing with a worry that trickles all through his veins and locks his muscles tight.

Despite all that, though, Phil’s still smiling. How could he not, when there’s an electricity pulsing through everybody in this place?

Especially when he remembers what he’d tucked in their shared backpack early that morning.

“You’re awfully bouncy today,” Dan remarks from his place on the couch. Phil shoves his legs aside to squeeze in next to him, close but not too close. The door could open at any moment. Unfortunately. Infuriatingly.

Understandably.

“Bouncy? Like your curls?” Phil giggles. Instinctually, his fingers travel up to the slight mess of floof atop Dan’s head. His hair is as soft as ever, and warm from the massive lights they’d just finished their afternoon hug fest underneath. _God_ is Phil dying to crawl back to their hotel room, where he can shovel down disturbing amounts of Indian food before they end this tour the only way they know how.

Their secret moments almost make the long wait worth it, though. Almost.

Dan hums, soft as a cat and just as fluffy with that black jumper that somehow hasn’t shed all over Phil yet. “Mmmm, a lot bouncier, I’d say. You’re really not sad it’s the last day? Or,” Dan bites his lip, “scared, maybe?”

“Oh my god, of course I’m terrified.” It’s a dizzying relief to let those words out. Even if they hang heavy in the air for that moment. “But the scary stuff comes later. Right now, we’ve gotta focus on giving the most ass-kickingest show of this whole tour. That shouldn’t be too hard at this point, right?”

There’s a pause, then Phil adds, “Are _you_ scared, Dan?”

A much longer pause follows, stretching so far that Phil’s sure someone’s going to knock any second. But the elaborate dressing room remains silent, save for the muffled Brockhampton leaking through the walls.

“Maybe a bit,” Dan finally sighs. “It’s just...weird, you know? Like, how are we supposed to act on camera after giving people such a big slice of the real Dan and Phil? I...I know we said everything was gonna change after this tour, but are we ready for everyone to know that?”

Something about the catch in Dan’s voice, or maybe the countless questions in his wide eyes, brings Phil back to another city, another hushed conversation on a massive hotel bed.

The roles may have been reversed then, but just as Dan promised, everything _had_ turned out fine. Phil’s late-April worries almost feel silly to him now.

“Dan?” Phil’s heart is in his throat but he grabs Dan’s hands anyway, squeezes them as tight as Dan had after their first two shows. Sure enough, a startled pair of brown eyes catches Phil’s searching gaze. “Dan, do you remember what you said to me that very first night? How nobody will ever know this, not unless we want them to?”

Dan nods slowly. Phil feels like his chest might just crack open.

“Nothing’s changed since then. We’re learning to live with it, one step at a time. That’s enough, yeah?”

The warmth that trickles through Phil at the sight of Dan’s soft smile is intoxicating. There’s a light glowing behind his eyes that becomes a fire even as Phil drops his hands and scooches a safe distance away on the cushy dark red and gold sofa.

Perfect timing, too, as a sharp knock sounds from behind the door, which immediately opens to reveal Marianne and about four other crew members with headsets and clipboards, two of them wielding makeup brushes and heading straight for the men on the couch. Everything moves at triple speed then. In seconds, it feels, he and Dan are standing on their platforms for the last time (the _last time_ ). Even amidst the tiny fissures opening in his heart, Phil finds the strength to plaster on a real smile after sucking in a deep breath. It helps that Dan’s smiling bigger than he’s done all day.

The show becomes a cacophony of bangs and screams and squeals in Phil’s mind, but there’s a beauty inside the madness. Phil would swear they’d just stepped onstage when he’s watching Dan zip up the white suit and Phil’s unlatching the straps on the wheel. Taylor Swift blasts just beyond them as Phil pushes the white wooden stool towards Dan with his foot, heart pulsing in time with the music. There isn’t time for the nostalgia to fully latch on, though. Thankfully.

Which is good, because Phil swears he would have fallen off the stage during the “Going Deep” segment were his mind not fully here.

Maybe he should’ve seen this coming, from the smirk creeping up Dan’s face when he chose this question, or all the grilling he’d given Phil before the show. Dan knew Phil had something planned, despite Phil’s best attempt at a poker face. But the writhing in his gut that had been growing ever more frenzied since the interval drops away as soon as he hears Dan break away from their hastily scribbled notes.

“So, Lia,” Dan continues, after explaining how terrified he was to leave behind everything he’d known for Manchester and how much it helped to have a friend waiting there for him. His left foot taps against the bottom of the stage, the pace of the rhythm steadily increasing. “I think it’s clear we both had a hard time adjusting to living away from our families. But sometimes, you find someone you click with, and…” he twists toward Phil with the _biggest_ shit eating grin Phil’s ever seen, “well...things kinda work out and you end up getting a few flats together and then a house and a dog!”

The response is enormous. But not nearly as big as what comes a minute later.

“Yes, you heard that right,” Dan shouts as the initial screaming dies down. “It’s been a slow process, and it’s been _so hard_ to keep from you guys--” _It really hasn’t!_ , Phil wants to scream yet to his credit, he does keep his mouth shut-- “but during our breaks on this tour, Phil and I have been moving into the fixer-upper we bought all the way back in 2017. A...well, we sure hope for it to be a forever home, anyway.”

Phil’s extra grateful for his earpieces in this moment. Really, he’s shocked the screams don’t blow the extravagant roof off.

Dan scrambles to his feet after a few seconds, the sudden movement ending most of the screeches and snapping Phil back to attention. _Shit._ Everyone’s going to know Dan totally just sprung this on him. _Well_ , a thrill rushes down Phil’s spine, _two can play at this game._

“We’ve even got our corgi, Loki, picked out and everything!” Dan flings his arm towards the giant screen and there, right there, is the teeny tan and white fluffball, blown to monstrous proportions. He’s rolling in the grass at his foster parents’ home, tongue lolling out in the most precious of doggy smiles. Phil’s heart stutters to a stop, then leaps at the sight of the puppy that will be theirs in just a couple weeks. _Theirs._

Hold on...Dan got the crew in on this too? _Holy shit._

Phil blinks rapidly. “You mean _Thor,_ ” he finally cuts in, shooting Dan what he hopes is a challenging grin but what’s almost definitely just soft and goofy.

“No, Phil,” Dan giggles. “I think we agreed that Loki was far cuter, _remember?_ ”

It’s almost impossible for Phil to pout, he’s smiling so much. “Alright, I _guess._ But you’re taking him on all his walks. _And_ cleaning up after his accidents.”

If there’s a feeling beyond exhilaration, this must be it. The buzzing in his veins, the lightness of his chest and the happy dance inside his stomach all combine into something so intensely intoxicating Phil almost can’t see straight.

There’s no way anything could top this. Right?

_Well, actually_ , Phil thinks as he shoves a tiny velvet box in his pocket just before donning his hat and sunglasses and jumping back out to the stage, _maybe something might._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! As always you can find me on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/phloridas) (where I'm starting to post writing updates!) and [Tumblr](http://phloridas.tumblr.com) @phloridas, and reblog [here](http://phloridas.tumblr.com/post/174696129581/never-too-late-to-be-brand-new), if you'd like! <3 Happy tour season!!


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